


Christmas with Kentucky

by kedee



Category: Persona 5
Genre: Christmas, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-02
Updated: 2020-01-02
Packaged: 2021-02-27 14:42:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,791
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22078654
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kedee/pseuds/kedee
Summary: Akechi and Akira spend their first Christmas together, though it doesn't start off quite so smoothly as planned.A Christmas present for DaisyWind.
Relationships: Akechi Goro/Kurusu Akira, Akechi Goro/Persona 5 Protagonist
Comments: 1
Kudos: 38





	Christmas with Kentucky

**Author's Note:**

  * For [DaisyWind](https://archiveofourown.org/users/DaisyWind/gifts).



> Merry Christmas, DaisyWind. With this fic, I hope to combine two of our greatest loves: yours, Akechi; and mine, KFC.

Akechi looked at his watch and then shoved his hands back into his pockets. It had been forty-five minutes since Akira had texted him to meet at Leblanc, and yet when he arrived the place was shuttered, the lights off. Akechi didn’t like waiting around like this, particularly not in the cold. It just bothered him. There was only so much grumbling and pacing a person could do before reaching his limit, after all. After a while he decided to occupy himself with in-depth planning of the snide text message he would send to Akira before he left in a huff. He was just in the process of selecting the perfect passive aggressive emoji when a familiar voice rang out.

“Yo!”

Akechi turned to see Akira jogging down the alley, holding a very large paper bag close to his chest like it was his precious child. His glasses were fogged up. Akechi wondered how he didn’t fall down walking around the icy streets like that. “Sorry I’m late.” Akira said, fumbling in his pocket for the keys to Leblanc. After a painfully long moment of juggling the bag and the keys, he managed to unlock the door and let them both inside. Akira led the way upstairs and Akechi followed him.

“You kept me waiting long enough.” Akechi finally said, pointedly. 

“I know, I know. Sorry. The crowds are crazy on Christmas Eve.” As they reached the attic, Akira put down the bag and busied himself pulling out the table and chairs.

“Sure. I guess.” Akechi said tersely, gazing at the ceiling in lieu of helping. 

“Yep.” Akira continued on, somewhat oblivious to the full extent of Akechi’s current attitude. “The lines were terrible. But you know how it is. Everybody’s gotta have ‘Christmas with Kentucky!’”

“Honestly!” Akechi scoffed. “And those fools come back again year after year for that garbage! I mean, what kind of philistine would actually eat—” he stopped short as he turned around to see Akira setting out the contents of the paper bag: a KFC Family Bucket with all the fixings. Oh, of course.

They both stood awkwardly for a moment before Akira broke the silence. “Oh. Well, I guess you’re right. Um. Oh! Actually, now that I think about it, there’s plenty of stuff left downstairs to make Leblanc curry. I’ll just whip up some of that instead. It’ll just take a few minutes.” And with that, Akira disappeared quickly down the stairs before Akechi could respond.

Had that been disappointment in his eyes? It could be hard to tell with Akira. Even so, Akechi wasn’t about to take back anything he said about the chicken. It was absolutely true. And the greasy smell wafting up from the bucket was really starting to fill the room now. Nauseating. He went to crack the window, and as he did, he spotted something on the workbench out of the corner of his eye. It was a Christmas present, surprisingly well-wrapped, and as he moved closer, Akechi spied the name on the label: his own. Goro Akechi. He honestly hadn’t expected to see it there, written simply in black ink. Nevertheless, he found himself picking it up and opening it almost automatically, without a second thought. Well, it was for him, after all, wasn’t it? After the paper and ribbon had all been pulled away, Akechi held in his hands a book.  _ Arsène Lupin, Gentleman-Cambrioleur. _ It looked old, so old that he wondered if—yes. His suspicions were confirmed when he flipped to the table of contents. It was an original printing, from before all the references to Sherlock Holmes had to be removed over copyright concerns. Suddenly he was glad he was wearing gloves. ‘ _ Sherlock Holmes arrive trop tard _ ,’ it read. The Great Detective…

A clatter of pans from downstairs aroused Akechi’s attention once more. Right. Akira was making the curry. And, well, now Akechi felt kind of bad. He had to admit he had stepped in it pretty badly with that chicken thing, and now there was this. It was Christmas Eve, and he had showed up at Akira’s place without a gift or anything. To be honest, it hadn’t even crossed his mind until now. He wasn’t exactly used to celebrating holidays, after all.

Without another thought, Akechi made for the stairs. He hadn’t even taken his coat off amidst his earlier moody distractedness. He crept quietly down and peered around the corner. There was Akira in the kitchen, chopping away at the cutting board. Akechi took the opportunity and quickly made for the door, slipping out as quietly as he could manage. 

Right. Now where was he actually going? He picked a direction at random and made a run for it through the winding alleyways of Yongen-Jaya. Just about everything was closing up by now. He checked his watch before pulling out his phone and swiping desperately through local shopping guides in search of anywhere, anyplace at all…

Then he stopped. Right across the way was a bakery, and it was open. Its warm lights stood out in the dark street almost like a mirage, inviting all weary travelers inside. He crossed the street, and as he came closer he could see the paper snowflakes hanging in the window and hear the soft Christmas music chiming from within. 

“Welcome!” the shop manager called out as he entered. “Excuse me,” he began, sounding a little out of breath. He composed himself quickly before continuing on. “Is there any cake left? Christmas cake?”

The manager smiled. “Ah, you’re just in time! We have one left.” Akechi’s relief was immeasurable. Twenty minutes ago Christmas presents had been the furthest thing from his mind, and suddenly it felt like just about the highest stakes game in his entire life. “We always stay open later tonight just for people like yourself,” the manager continued. 

“Great. I’ll take it, thank you very much.” Akechi bowed slightly and the manager set about boxing up the cake. 

“This must be for your girlfriend,” the manager went on as she tied a red ribbon to the box. “You had better hurry up! I’m sure she’s been waiting patiently for you.”

Akechi smiled his practiced smile as he took out his wallet and paid. “Yes, that’s right. Thank you very much, ma’am.”

The manager’s call of “Merry Christmas!” followed him as he exited the shop onto the street.

* * *

As it turned out, making his way back to Leblanc took Akechi much longer when he wasn’t dashing around like a chicken with his head cut off. He was relieved to see the lights were still on. As he drew nearer he saw Akira inside, sitting alone at the counter and eating curry. To be honest, it looked kind of pathetic. Akechi pushed open the door and Akira’s head lifted at the sound of the bell. He didn’t seem particularly surprised, but maybe… relieved? 

“I’m back.” Akechi said simply. He instinctively hid the cake box behind his back.

“Welcome back.” Akira replied. “There’s plenty of curry. We can take it upstairs.”

Akechi nodded.

Upstairs, Akechi finally took off his coat and draped it over the cake box. As he did so, he noticed Akira clearing the now empty bucket and containers off the table. “You ate all of that?” he asked incredulously. 

“Huh? Oh, yeah. You said you didn’t want any.” Akira said this as though it were the most natural thing in the world.

“A family size meal and you’re still eating curry? How—” You know what? Never mind. He wasn’t going to ask.

Akechi sat down as Akira began serving him a plate of curry. This would be a good time to address his previous behavior, he thought. If only he knew how. He hadn’t actually come up with a plan for that part. He could try to play it off sort of innocently, maybe, but he hated acting sheepish. Or worse, groveling. Akira’s voice interrupted his thoughts.

“I’m glad you came back.”

Akechi couldn’t help his surprise. “I just… there was something I had to do.”

Akira nodded and the two lapsed into silent eating. Finally, Akechi took a breath and spoke again, though the words that came out were not the ones he had planned.

“Why did you invite me here?”

Akira didn’t miss a beat. “Because I wanted to spend Christmas with you.”

“...Of course.” Akechi paused. “I saw the present you wrapped for me. I just opened it without thinking.”

“I saw. Did you like it?” Akira glanced up from his food, quietly watching Akechi over his glasses.

“...Very much.” This felt like the first fully genuine thing he had said all evening, and he felt somehow freer for it. He could feel his words began to flow more easily. “I liked it a lot. How could you even afford something like that?”

Akira shrugged. “I’m independently wealthy.” Bizarrely, he didn’t actually sound like he was joking.

“Well, even so. Thank you. I mean it.”

Akira smiled, and Akechi floated for a moment just at the sight of it. Then he stood up and turned around. He couldn’t let himself get carried away. When he came back to the table he brought the cake box with him, its red ribbon shining valiantly under the attic’s bare bulb. “This is what I had to go out for.”

Akira’s eyes nearly shone at the sight of it. “Could this be… a Christmas cake?”

“What do you think?” Akechi let out the slightly tonally-inappropriate response without a thought. Even so, Akira didn’t seem to mind, and continued smiling. 

“But, was it really so hard to find? Did the supermarket around the corner run out after all?”

“Supermarket?!” Akechi was incredulous. “I don’t buy baked goods from  _ supermarkets _ !” His lip curled as he spat the word. Bewilderingly, Akira laughed.

Akira then reached for the box and gently pulled the ribbon untied, unfolding the white cardboard box. Akechi realized then that he hadn’t gotten a good look at it in the store. It was pretty corny, with red icing hearts and all. He wondered if it was too embarrassing as he watched Akira stare down at it. Then Akira spoke. 

“Well. Now it’s my turn.” He raised his head from gazing at the cake and locked eyes with the boy across the table. “Thank you, Akechi-kun. I love it.”

Akechi held his gaze for a few seconds that felt like a lifetime before looking off to the side. “Well… I’m glad.”

Snowflakes began drifting gently down outside the attic window as the cake was served and shared, though neither boy noticed. Through that window, the warm light and two silhouettes were visible late into the night, long after the other neighborhood houses had gone dark. 

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks all who read my very first fan fiction! I did my best and I do hope it suited. Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, Happy 2020.


End file.
